Dawn of Tomorrow

by Kevin Douglas

  “What…in the…heck was that?”

  “You didn’t think it was really me did you, Leonard? I told you I am rarely here.”

  “I understand the ghost reference now.”

  Leo also noticed what tipped him off; she seemed to be fully illuminated, her appearance unaffected by the dim gas lamps.

  “It is all possible via our True-Life Bio-Luminescent Intelligent Hologram system.”

  Leo tried to wrap his mind around that mouthful.

  “That is beyond amazing, but let’s not stray off point. Show me the rest of your Free Radical folder uploads, please.”

  “As you wish, Leo,” as she passed, her hairstyle seemed to have changed, longer and curlier now. “Let’s get comfortable, shall we?”

  While walking to the screen in one seamless motion, her business attire was stripped off her frame, and replaced with casual garb. Like a wave from head to toe the clothing flowed, revealing a V-necked tank top, tight cargo pants and athletic shoes.

  “Much better,” she said, a gleam in her eye. “Let’s sort out this software theft business, shall we?”

  Leo suspicions of her eased, but his apprehension and curiosity tinged interest still got the better of him. He wanted more than getting his invention freed. He wanted to know more about this place.

  “Yes, lets sort it out. After all that’s why I’m here,” said Leo, convincing only himself.

  Chapter 26

  Mrs. Sullivan touched ACTIVE and it brought up that folder’s contents. The alphabetical list was quite long, and she scrolled down until she reached the letter L, then tapped the screen. It brought up the options, Lights 1, Lights 2, Lights 3, and Leonard Krueger. She opened his file and explained its contents.

  “Each folder is named automatically with its primary user at the time of first authentication. Each user has three folders: GPS, Security, System and in your case Lessons and Readouts. As you can see there is no uploading space for files added to the disc drive.”

  Mrs. Sullivan touched each one to open them, so she could describe the contents. “GPS shows every half hour tag with longitude and latitude, and still shot if available. SECURITY is in place for any tampering and virus-related prevention. SYSTEM is our core operating system and is copied into this folder upon the initial activation scan. The other two are for you specifically, they just run the lessons and readouts given on your status. As you can see, there is nothing within them that is yours.”

  “I get two extra folders, why is that?”

  “That is something I want to discuss with you.”

  Leo wasn’t satisfied with this explanation, something was amiss. He knew his files had to be stored somewhere in their system. He wanted to explore for himself. He raised his hand to the screen and asked,

  “May I?”

  An alert chimed from the screen and Mrs. Sullivan’s attention shifted away from him. She nodded toward Leo and pressed her palm on the display allowing access via her presence.

  “Thank you, Mrs. Sullivan.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  Leo stared at her. Her mouth did not move when she had spoken to him, her body was frozen with one hand on the screen. While in her frozen state Leo still was able to hear her conversation as she spoke with someone in her security detail.

  “Mrs. Sullivan this is in house security. May I speak with you privately? It’s Bernard.”

  “No names on the channels you fool!”

  “Sorry ma’am, as for our device I am in place but…”

  “Wait! Hold on.”

  “I have a private matter to attend to just one moment Leonard.”

  The room went silent and her form went to silhouette. Leo browsed the folders at his leisure, glancing occasionally at the eerie shadow woman standing beside him.

  He searched all his sub-folders and found nothing of his e-Frond, then backed out one level past his folder. The screen froze as Mrs. Sullivan removed her hand from the screen. He shot her a perturbed look. So that’s how it’s going be, huh?

  Frustrated by not being allowed entry to everything, he tapped another screen next to him to use the search feature, which brought up the search bar. He entered E-Fond.

  The screen went white with no results. Leo paused, thinking of a way to locate it.

  Mrs. Sullivan once again returned to full color, top to bottom.

  “That was certainly bold of you. We can’t have you browsing all our equipment. As you noticed your files are nowhere in our system.

  “You mentioned once the primary user authenticates, the equipment goes into their name and automatically moves to active. What happens to the folder that it was under before I authenticated? I would expect it to stay under inactive or move to archived. If your unaware maybe the documents are being stored there in error.”

  “I assure you that wouldn’t happen. However, I will pull up the inactive folder if it will belay your fears.”

  Mrs. Sullivan shielded the screen as much as possible with her body. After navigating to the inactive folder, she paused. “Strange. There’s no data what so ever in the parent folder.”

  Leo stepped closer to the screen to inspect. “Well shouldn’t it be empty if it all moved to the active folder under my name?”

  “No not at all. The device still retains all its system back-ups and original software. Any previous user’s data using the same tablet would be in the archived folder.”

  “I know your system pilfered my software. Where is it?”

  Silence once again returned to the library as both were in thought.

  “Mrs. Sullivan, I hear what you’re saying, but I need confirmation my proprietary information is removed.”

  “Yes of course. I know who I need to speak with. Trust me, I’ll get this matter resolved.”

  “Okay, good. About time. Now, why did you want me to come see you?”

  “I mentioned there are things in the book that are unique.”

  The screen went black, the faux bookcase returned, and she searched the library. Leo followed her, anxious to find out what she would present to him.

  He just hoped New Wave did not find out about this predicament. Being embroiled in a legal battle for e-Frond would not be a good start for his New Wave position.

  Mrs. Sullivan picked up a large book, she had sitting on a shelf, and took a seat in a plush chair.

  Raising her eyebrows, she said, “Leo pull up a chair, this will take a bit. Get comfortable.” She motioned to the chair beside her. Leo could not take his eye off the book as he sat. It resembled his Geology book. It was an enormous leather-bound volume with an exquisite jeweled cover. He had butterflies waiting for her to open it but wondered what the book had to do with his reason to visit.

  “This book is of great interest to us. If I’m being honest, to others as well. Its existence is confidential.”

  Mrs. Sullivan placed a hand on Leo’s forearm, his arm tingled untill she released her grip. Chills went down his spine and his hair stood on end. His previous anger had melted away, he was captivated by her every word. Leo watched as she seemed to almost caress the book, not sure if she wanted to open it. What is she not telling me. What secrets lie within this precious book?

  Chapter 27

  Stratus Lattamus was young as bank managers and investment analysts go. At thirty-two years of age, he fulfilled both roles as manager at a small, quiet branch in northern Connecticut. During his downtime, he worked freelance, as an investment and portfolio advisor, and found most of his side work in the Hartford area.

  Today was one of those out of office days and he checked his email as he sipped his afternoon pomegranate and blueberry fruit smoothie. He was careful not to drip on his finely pressed dark gray three-piece-suit.

  Stratus selected an email that reported today’s activities in the financial world about the movers and shakers that made waves in big business and investments. The list was more manageable on Sunday’s. One entry caught his eye, halfway down the page.

 
New Wave Goes Tidal After Public Offering. New Wave set the bar, and many want in. In its first week of going public, it has many investors wanting to catch a ride on its newfound capitol. New Wave is indeed the new kid on the block, but it has many longtime residents of the tech persuasion scrambling. Most surprising is its massive market share that has come after its first week.

  This company did not have any buzz before this week, and investors had little, if any, information to go on when doubling down on Wall Street.

  Its mission statement is vague and ambiguous at best and it has tech and the financial world scratching its head, wondering what friends in high places the New Wave Company has.

  You’re likely to run across their name again as they are propelled past the billion milestone before their first week is even over.

  Its CEO Bartholemeau is unavailable for comment, but word is it’s already making big moves with both hands in the cookie jar, spending millions on brilliant minds to fill its halls. Surf’s up.

  Stratus relaxed back into his chair, deep in thought over the article. Curious, he opened his laptop, typed New Wave into the search bar, intent on finding their corporate office location.

  It pulled up a variety of results, but nothing relevant. He expected the company’s website to have been at the top of the results. He searched using different criteria and came up with similar unrelated results.

  He typed New Wave into the address bar, and it only retrieved a domain-purchasing website. He searched again, this time under news articles and found a few results.

  Several obscure publishers stated New Wave’s headquarters were in upstate New York, at a vaguely described location in a rural area. He raised an eyebrow, unable to recall many companies with headquarters in that area, especially one as large as this company must be.

  The date caught his eye; it read ten years ago from today’s date. Why is there no new article with the address for New Wave’s headquarters? He would have to make some calls and try to get more information.

  He closed the browser window and logged into his investment portal, which gave him information on different bank branches in his area. He had a hunch about the ‘cookie jar’ comment from the article and he was rarely wrong, not with his experience.

  The Connecticut branches turned up no anomalies in large sum transactions, so he broadened his search. He did not have to wait long to get something that peaked his interest.

  A small college town, in a relatively rural setting in southwestern New York, had typical small money interactions at his bank, with one exception.

  The night before last, a single large transaction went through this branch, setting itself apart from the rest of the meager college student purchases and student loan disbursements.

  He moused over the deposit and, using his security clearance, he accessed all the information on the transaction. Well it appears a Mr. Krueger has been talking to the right people. He scrolled for the payer of this giant deposit and was pleasantly surprised. Hand in the cookie jar, indeed. Just as he thought, the wired transmission to Mr. Kruger came from New Wave.

  Stunned by the information, Stratus tried to think of what talent New Wave could acquire from the small town of Great Barrington, NY. As he pondered, it was perfectly clear that this Leo was important. He decided to pay a visit to Mr. Krueger. He hated over the phone interaction, after all this is an investment inquiry, someone worth a sign-on bonus of that magnitude is worth the drive. In addition, Stratus hoped to land further investment accounts from Mr. Krueger.

  He wanted to see what piece of the puzzle might be in this New Wave spike of popularity. He would love to get Leo to slip some information on New Wave to him. No doubt, everyone was trying to get a piece of this company by now.

  He leaned back, smoothed down his suit, reached into his inside breast pocket, and pulled out a small black cell phone. He typed a message and slipped it back into his pocket. He closed his eyes for a moment before being jolted from his reverie by vibrations in his pants pocket.

  He rousted a larger blue phone from his pocket and its caller ID caused his face to contort in irritation. With a sigh, he answered the call and put out another fire that his assistant manager could never seem to handle.

  At the end of the call, his subordinate had the nerve to ask, “Will you be back in the office Monday Mr. Lattamus?”

  “I told you I have important business to attend to. Did I make the wrong decision in hiring you? You should be able to handle such trivial matters.”

  He hated being so rough, but the assistant just needed to start trusting himself more. Stratus bit his tongue as he closed the call.

  Lowering his tone, he said, “Call if you run into any issues that require my attention.”

  He shook his head and slipped his phone back into his pants pocket, drained the last of his fruit drink, and, not more than a second later, vibrations again shook his chest. The alert from his breast pocket startled him and caused him to think sometimes it sucked being so important. He pulled out the black phone, eager for its instructions.

  He read the text on the screen, Stratus, we need more information. Pursue this Krueger don’t scare him with any suspicions we have. I think we both know he seems to be in on the ground floor. Before we overreact, we need assurances. You know the impact of our program. Its timing is critical. Enjoy New York, stay your distance though.

  This was music to Stratus’s ears; he could not wait to question this Leonard Krueger. He loved the hunt and the open road. Never good at staying his distance, Stratus vowed he would try his best. Smiling, he knew he would disappoint his superiors, ending up right in thick of things as usual.

  Chapter 28

  Sarafina wiped the driver’s window to remove the condensation. It was nearly pointless since the fog had become so thick she could only see but a few feet. It somehow calmed her nerves to know no one was lurking just outside. Bored out of her mind, Sarafina took the keys from the ignition, slid from the Vette and leaned against the grill to study the mansion.

  The gas lamps had come on a few minutes ago, their dancing flames dimly lighting the soupy area. No one had told her she could not go for a walk. The Phantom only said she was not to enter the house. She decided to stretch her muscles. Silence filled the air and she finally relaxed as she strolled for a minute until she heard footsteps. She froze.

  Low grumbling laughter emanated from behind her followed immediately by a stiff poke in the back.

  “Sarafina there you are, what are you up to out here?”

  Sarafina let out an irritated, defeated sigh. “What do you want now, Fox One?”

  “What I wanted was for you to stay in the car. Come with me. Now.”

  “Hey, I’m just out for a walk. You said don’t go in the house.”

  “I also didn’t say go ahead and wander around the grounds. My warning earlier should have deterred you.”

  The Phantom lowered his weapon and led the way. The fog wafted by and made it difficult to see him, so she took a step closer.

  “Come with me and nothing will happen for your trespass.”

  “What trespass? You allowed us to pass inside your gates. There is nothing out here but forest anyhow.”

  “Look, lady, I know this may be hard to believe, but I’m trying to help you. You don’t want to wonder around here.”

  “Well hello, love birds,” came a faceless voice from within the fog.

  Both froze facing each other. Sarafina saw the relaxed, cocky demeanor fade from the Phantom’s face, replaced by alarm and focus. His hand immediately went for his weapon; he raised it and pushed Sarafina out of the way.

  The voice called out again, “Ma’am I need to have a word alone with this brute. I will deal with you in a moment.”

  “Why are you out here?” the Phantom said. “You’re leaving the home unprotected.”

  “I’m here for the device Fox One, plain and simple.”

  “I already told Mrs. Sullivan that the device isn’t moving until I
clear it.”

  “Why don’t you come over here, so we can discuss things in privacy?”

  The Phantom leaned over and whispered into Sarafina’s ear, “When I leave, make for the car and get out of here.” Then Fox One yelled out to the trees, “Have it your way house man. Light your position.”

  A laser beam darted through the fog and the Phantom slowly walked toward it, pointing his rifle in the direction of the red light, finger on the trigger.

  As Fox One disappeared into the fog, Sarafina ducked down and scampered into the woods that edged the lawn. She had not gone very far when she heard a hollow thud under her feet.

  She stopped and examined what caused the noise. A flat wooden plank covered with debris from the forest.

  Sarafina traced the edges with her fingers and her hand brushed against a metal handle. That’s odd. It’s so far away from the house.

  She took several more careful steps and discovered other doors lying flat, scattered around the nearby forest floor. She turned to the raised voices of Fox One and the other man.

  The intrigue of her find faded and she headed out of the tree line to the lawn. Surprised she had drifted so far into the trees, Sarafina jogged blindly through the fog to finally reach the home’s edge.

  She tripped, nearly hitting her head on the windowsill. She paused, listening for any sound to indicate a pursuer. She only heard her escalated breathing as she waited for sounds from the two men.

  Something seemed off. She checked her pockets and discovered the car keys were missing. She swore under her breath and looked around her immediate area, then dropped to her hands and knees, feeling around the bushes.

  A loud gunshot resonated through the forest. She startled, paranoia moving from imagination to reality. Her heart thudded in her chest, as she remained frozen among the shrubs, eyes peeled for any movement. Sarafina heard a grunt and painful groan from within the void.